Originally, I wasn't intending to make a build thread myself, but so far, I've ran into enough problems and poking at inquiries to the point that sharing what I've discovered and what I don't know will help archive the knowledge in this forum. I'll continue to update this as I go along.

I'll first highlight what happened in the past, then I'll reveal the problem/dilemma that I've ran into at the moment.

Now, story time:
When I first bought the car, it came with a knock-off Mugen front bumper and it irritated the living crap out of me. Some of you might have remembered seeing me posting a FS/FT post on the buy and sell thread back in June.

Luckily, mkhalid has agreed to trade his OEM bumper with me sans the lip. Very friendly and a great guy, many props to him for giving me cool insights!

Here's what the car looked like back then:


Along the way while driving it, it had other strange problems like seized rear left caliper and binded left driveshaft. The main reasons for these mechanical issues are due to improper maintenance and usage by the previous owner. Specifically, my mechanic told me that the seized caliper was most likely due to heat warp by either having the handbrake cable too tight or driving with handbrake up for way too damn long.

Since the car is well past the age of consent, all three ITR decals on the body are showing signs of age with the one on driver's side completely worn off. So I've decided to goo gone them and freshen them up with new ones. Yes, they're not OEM, but I like this set a lot more because the red is a lot more vivid.


I've also installed a new radio since the one it came with only works in Japanese frequency, meaning the only FM radio station I can listen to is BBC radio one.

Along with the interior upgrade is a 350mm Momo Montecarlo steering wheel. The factory setup of the car includes a SRS 4 point steering wheel and again, the skinny and huge steering wheel was not my cup of tea. To deal with the SRS light issue, I put a multimeter across the terminals on the airbag and tricked the system by bridging the terminals with a 2W 4.3kOhm resistor instead.


Please excuse the derpy "Type R" badge and the poorly maintained interior, I took it off shortly afterwards.

To fix the horn, I've cut off the horn connector, extended the wire to make sure part of it touches the momo hub and taped the end to the top of the steering column. Connecting method for the horn button is below, courtesy of Momo's website:


Since the bumper I got from mkhalid has no front lip, I've sourced a PU replica OEM lip. I mounted the lip on with double-sided 3M mounting tape and two screws. But prior to that, I painted the entire thing in my garage with Tamiya rattle can paint & Mr. Hobby 1500 grey primer.

This is what the lip looked like after 2 layers of primer.


It turned out okay overall

To avoid a super long post, I'll end here for now with a TBC. More to come as I fish through my records and notebook.

B.

 

Nice teg... Donne lui de l'amour....keep her well maintened...!!

 

the teg looks great keep it up!

 

Very Very Nice!

 

I'll be following.

 

Thank you for all the compliments.

Continuing from last time...
While dealing with the binded driveshaft, I've also noticed that both my RTA bushings are cracked along with play in tie rod ends. Since a local shop gave me a pretty good deal, I've decided to go for it. And this is a huge source of my dilemma that I've ran into, as I'll explain later on.


After painting and mounting my new lip, I went out for a drive to test it out. Not for aero, but to make sure it doesn't fall off haha.

The paint came out slightly more yellow than expected. Ooopsies.

While browsing a local car forum, I ran into an irresistibly good deal on a JDM front unknown brand CF hood, I pounced on it right away.

Unfortunately, I chipped the lip's paint because I forgot that I need to apply a layer of clear coat to protect it. Pretty costly and dumb mistake.

This is my new deck before mounting. I tucked a hidden antenna that resides in the trunk with wires that run across the car. Planning to do the OEM antenna delete soon.


A while back, I did an oil change and I was pissed that the previous owner was running an orange Fram oil filter.

Since it's not extremely cold here, I've decided to run Mobil1 5W-30 Extended Performance Full Synthetic with OEM PLM-A01 oil filter by Filtech. Alternatively, the JDM Hamp smaller oil filter would be nice too.

This was just done yesterday. I got myself a set of Spoon replica CF mirrors and installed them. Loved them but I'd assume they're made for racing buckets seats that sit much much lower. I'm standing 180cm and I have trouble seeing out of them because even at topmost and outmost position, I can't see ****. My friend who is much shorter said it didn't bug him as much.


Now comes my biggest dilemma: 4x114.3

It's not as big of a deal as people think it is when it comes to purchasing rotors. It just happened that all the wheels I like/want are not available in that bolt pattern. Mitigation strategies include the pretty obvious 5-lug conversion or just find another equally good set of wheels and stick with it.

I'm really not liking the latter while the former is relatively expensive, especially when I have literally just upgraded my bushings, tie rod ends, etc.

Based on some secondary research, I've gathered that 97 spec USDM ITRs also use 32mm axles and I'm wondering if the 96 spec JDM knuckles will work with the 5-lug hubs? If that's the case, I'm heavily contemplating on just selling my OEM '96 spec wheels, hubs, and calipers and reuse everything else instead.


Based on these assembly drawings, it is shown that the only different parts are only the rotors and hubs. Has anyone ever had experiences related to this?

Many thanks in advance.

Thanks,
B.

 

Just buy a full 5 lug conversion, sell your 4x114.3 and call it a day.

Its a lot easier to just buy a conversion and update it. New bushings and such, and then find a nice set of wheels. Thats what I did.

 

the teg looks great keep it up!

 

Super late update:

I got one of these for the giggles.


Car's been in hibernation since November and it's about to be awakened.


But first, something else needs to be done: timing belt, MTF, and coolant flush coming up. Here's the box of goodies I've picked up from a local shop.


Timing belt was changed prior to export, but damn front main seal is leaking oil so better to have it dealt with sooner than later. Will change belt and perform other maintenance work after I come back from San Fransisco trip.

 

The best way to deal with the front rotors is to use 4th gen prelude vtec rotors, 1993-96 should all be the same. Then, use ITR 5 lug calipers (which are the same as the 97-01 crv calipers). This is also a slight size upgrade, too

 

Thanks mate. I've decided to stick with 4x114.3 when I can find a set of wheels in that pattern. I'm leaning towards regas and stick with them.

I've already got a set of ITR front calipers and planning to do RSX rear caliper + accord rotors. Alternatively, if a good 5 lug deal pops up, I don't mind taking it.

For the time being, I've already got my mugen twinloop, comptech ice box, and buddy club dampers on the way. 5 lug is not a priority at the moment lol.

 

Very nice B. I can't wait to see it in person. Keep me posted on upcoming shows. I'll bring my civic out as well.

 

 

No new mods done lately. Just typical maintenance stuff mentioned last time.



The above was me driving to RevScene Spring Meet in the pissing rain, taken with a GoPro.









And it became nice and sunny afterwards so I went for another drive while shooting some Cheery Blossoms.

 

Car looked good at the Spring Meet

 

Finally have more time to update now that I'm back from Nebraska.

New stuff (photos to come):
CT Ice Box Intake
J's Racing 4-2-1 header
T1R Midpipe
Mugen twin loop muffler

I like the new exhaust sound a lot more. There's a faint hint of mechanical whirriling like the EP3's engine and no drone low RPM - exactly my cup of tea.

As mentioned in my other thread, JDM ITRs only have one O2 sensor upstream with an EGT probe in the cat (NTC Thermistor type sensor). Should be an easy fix once I have time to deal with it.

Also, got my hands on a set of Buddy Club RSD. Will install them later this week.